AI for Educators Design Lab Podcast

Design Sprint Recap: Designing AI-Resilient Learning Experiences

Jennifer Maddrell, PhD at Next Path Design — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 01:00:00 -0400

In this special summer episode of the AI for Educators: Design Lab podcast, Jennifer Maddrell reflects on a four-day Design Sprint with educators from K–12, higher education, and professional learning. She explores the idea that AI may be exposing “pedagogical deferred maintenance” rather than creating entirely new problems in teaching and learning.

Framing AI integration as an ill-structured design challenge, Jennifer examines how learning experiences can become more AI-resilient by reconsidering the alignment among four connected elements: learning goals, learning tasks, the visibility of the learning process, and the evidence used to measure learning.

Using her own graduate annotated bibliography assignment, which Claude completed convincingly in less than five minutes, she illustrates how product-focused tasks and invisible learning processes can create AI vulnerability. She also explains how the Design Sprint used the Double Diamond model, an AI-vulnerability test, and research-informed design responses to help educators diagnose before they solve.

00:00 Summer Edition Welcome

01:00 Design Sprint Recap

01:42 Pedagogical Deferred Maintenance

04:42 Four Connected Elements

07:17 Annotated Bibliography Example

11:33 The Double Diamond Design Process

12:37 Diagnose Before You Solve

15:01 Design Responses Across Four Elements

15:15 Learning Goals in the AI Era

17:02 Learning Tasks That Preserve the Thinking

17:59 Making the Learning Process Visible

19:24 Rethinking the Evidence That Carries the Grade

20:40 Key Takeaways and Next Steps

23:01 On-Demand Design Sprint

23:58 Closing

Design Sprint Preview: Designing AI-Resilient Learning Experiences

Jennifer Maddrell, PhD at Next Path Design — Sun, 31 May 2026 01:01:00 -0400

If AI can complete your assignment in minutes, that is not a student misconduct problem. It is a design challenge.

In this Design Sprint Preview, Jennifer Maddrell introduces the AI for Educators Design Sprint, a low-pressure, guided experience for educators, instructional designers, and learning leaders who want to redesign one AI‑vulnerable learning experience for an AI‑integrated world.

Instead of seeking ways to AI-proof your assignment, this sprint begins with a more fundamental design question: What do you want learners to know and be able to do? From there, you’ll work through a practical, repeatable design process to move from diagnosis to intentional redesign.

Jennifer shares her own example of a graduate‑level annotated bibliography assignment, and walks through how she:

Diagnosed its vulnerabilities
Clarified the real learning goals
Redesigned the task to make student thinking visible in ways AI cannot easily replicate

AI for Educators Design Sprint Schedule:

Four Days: June 15–18, 2026
Registration: 69 USD
Two live sessions + guided design activities + peer dialogue = ~5 hours

Learn more and enroll: https://nextpathdesign.com/join

00:00 Welcome and Overview

01:35 Why This Design Sprint

02:35 My Path to Next Path

06:06 Programs and Community

09:30 AI Vulnerable vs Resilient

16:40 Design Sprint Framework

20:46 Annotated Bibliography Example

23:42 Schedule and How It Works

25:46 Q&A and Wrap Up

S1E5: Designing for Data Privacy and Security in AI-Integrated Learning

Jennifer Maddrell, PhD at Next Path Design — Mon, 11 May 2026 01:01:00 -0400

Who's responsible for data privacy and security in AI-integrated learning? In Episode 5 of the AI for Educators Design Lab podcast, Jennifer Maddrell, PhD, argues that these issues aren't just IT and compliance concerns, or problems tech vendors should monitor and control. They're core design responsibilities for educators, learning experience designers, and educational leaders that shape everyday tool choices, workflows, and prompt decisions.

This episode was recorded amid reports of a major Canvas/Instructure security incident that may have exposed data for up to 275 million students, faculty, and staff. While large-scale breaches grab headlines, Jennifer argues the more common everyday risk is far quieter. It could be a well-intentioned teacher pasting student names, grades, or full assignments into tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini without pausing to consider where that data goes, how long it's retained, or whether it's used to train the model.

To work through this challenge, Jennifer walks through five design considerations along an arc that begins with the educator and works outward to students, families, and community:

Educator grounding: Building a privacy-aware workflow with habits like multi-factor authentication, pseudonyms in prompts, no-training modes, and treating new AI features as new tools
AI tool selection: Recognizing that data protections aren't binary but exist on a spectrum from free consumer accounts to paid personal plans to enterprise and education-specific licenses with Data Processing Agreements
Data minimization during use: Asking what the least amount of personal data a task actually requires, and paying attention to which learners would bear the greatest harm if something went wrong
Teaching privacy literacy: Building privacy as a skill students actively practice, not just a rule they follow
Transparency and consent: Knowing the legal and ethical obligations to inform students and families, especially for minors, and adding clear syllabus language, real opt-out alternatives, and parent-facing disclosures

The episode closes with a preview of Episode 6, which extends the equity conversation into the access dimension to ask: what happens when AI integration assumes devices, connectivity, or paid tools that not all students have?

Next Path Design Podcast Library: nextpathdesign.com/podcast
Design Brief Library (companion worksheets for every episode): nextpathdesign.com/designbriefs
Next Path Insights Newsletter: nextpathdesign.com/newsletter

00:00 Welcome and Episode Focus

01:15 The Canvas/Instructure Breach — A Wake-Up Call

02:46 Everyday Classroom Privacy Risks

03:46 Invisible Data Collection in AI Tools

05:28 Why Privacy Is Every Educator's Job

06:11 Five Design Considerations Overview

07:43 DC1: Educator Grounding and Privacy-Aware Habits

11:08 DC2: Choosing Safer AI Tools

14:32 DC3: Data Minimization and Vulnerable Learners

17:29 DC4: Teaching Student Privacy Literacy

19:43 DC5: Transparency, Consent, and Family Communication

23:18 Wrap-Up and Preview of Episode 6

Other Mentioned Sources:

S1E4: Designing for Human Presence in AI-Integrated Learning

Jennifer Maddrell, PhD at Next Path Design — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 01:01:00 -0400

As AI is integrated into learning experiences, where is human presence essential? In this episode of the AI for Educators Design Lab podcast, Jennifer Maddrell, PhD, considers the interactions that make learning possible, and makes the case that in an AI-integrated environment, learning is shaped not just by how students interact with technology, but by the people who design, guide, and participate in those interactions.

Drawing on decades of distance and online learning research, including the Community of Inquiry framework and concepts such as transactional distance, she notes that prior edtech research is often ignored in new AI debates. She shares findings from her doctoral research showing social, teaching, and cognitive presence correlate with student satisfaction and perceived learning, but not necessarily with achievement, underscoring that interaction quality matters more than mere connection.

Jennifer explores five (of many!) design considerations related to this topic, including:

Where human presence most supports learning,
How to allocate tasks between humans and AI,
How to design teaching presence when AI handles instructional tasks,
Who is most affected when human connection is reduced, and
Whether AI introduces a distinct “presence” in learning.

The episode closes with a preview of Episode 5 on data privacy, security, and safety. Check out our other free resources for educators:

Next Path Design Podcast Library: https://nextpathdesign.com/podcast
Design Brief Library as a podcast supplement: https://nextpathdesign.com/designbriefs
Next Path Insights Newsletter: https://nextpathdesign.com/newsletter

00:00 Welcome and Episode Setup

01:07 AI Hype and Real Use

02:44 We Have Been Here

05:05 Research Lessons on Interaction

08:02 Five Design Questions

08:22 Protect Human Moments

09:57 Backstage vs Frontstage

12:36 Teaching Presence by Design

15:38 Equity and Belonging Risks

17:59 AI as a New Presence

21:26 Wrap Up and Resources

22:55 Next Episode Ethics Preview

S1E3: AI Literacy: Helping Learners Think Critically About AI

Jennifer Maddrell, PhD at Next Path Design — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 01:01:00 -0400

Are your students using AI without really understanding it? This episode of the AI for Educators Design Lab podcast, Jennifer Maddrell, PhD, makes the case that AI literacy needs to be a consistent design intention running through the full learning experience. A one-time tutorial, a first-week policy conversation, or an add-on module isn't enough. Students who use AI without understanding how it generates outputs, where it breaks down, or what ethical stakes are involved aren't developing critical judgment. They're outsourcing their thinking.

Jennifer walks through five design considerations for embedding AI literacy intentionally into your learning experience:

What does AI literacy and AI fluency mean for your specific learners, in your discipline, at their stage of development?
Are you creating opportunities for students to examine AI as a system built by people with human assumptions embedded in it?
Where in your existing course do students already evaluate sources, weigh evidence, or question assumptions? Those are your natural integration points for AI literacy.
Are your assignments and assessments building evaluative judgment alongside proficiency or primarily rewarding the polish of the result?
What structures do you have in place that make AI use visible and reflective? And what are you modeling in your own practice about what a thoughtful relationship with these tools looks like?

The episode closes with a preview of Episode 4, which takes up another concern of educators: As AI takes on a greater presence in a course, what is the role of human interaction and connection?

Check out our other free resources for educators:

Next Path Design Podcast Library: https://nextpathdesign.com/podcast
Design Brief Library as a podcast supplement: https://nextpathdesign.com/designbriefs
Next Path Insights Newsletter: https://nextpathdesign.com/newsletter

00:00 Welcome and Recap

01:29 The Lit Review Wake-Up Call

02:18 The Literacy Gap

04:12 Five Design Considerations

08:49 Start with the Human Stakes

12:23 Embed AI Literacy in Existing Moments

15:37 Design for Evaluative Judgment

19:05 Make AI Use Visible and Reflective

21:54 Wrap Up and Next Steps

22:13 Design Brief and Episode 4 Preview

S1E2: Rethinking Learning Goals in the AI Era

Jennifer Maddrell, PhD at Next Path Design — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 01:01:00 -0400

If AI can now complete our assignments, does AI change our learning goals? In this episode of the AI for Educators Design Lab podcast, Jennifer Maddrell, PhD, explores how AI not only makes assignments more vulnerable but also prompts a review of traditional learning goals. AI isn't just changing what students can produce. It's also revealing that some of our legacy learning goals were written for a time when recall and reproduction were the dominant aims and indicators of learning.

Using her own literature review assignment as an example, Jennifer considers what students should learn when AI can quickly tackle many learning tasks. She walks through five design questions to help you audit whether your current learning goals are still relevant, sufficient, and aligned with what learners need in a world shaped by human-AI collaboration, and concludes with a preview of Episode 3 on AI literacy coming in April.

Do your learning goals prioritize content coverage or cognitive capability?
Does AI support or undermine the learning goal?
Do your learning goals reflect what authentic, discipline-specific performance looks like when AI is available?
Do your learning goals encourage metacognitive awareness?
What is the best way to make learning visible?

Check out our other free resources for educators:

Next Path Design Podcast Library: https://nextpathdesign.com/podcast
Design Brief Library as a podcast supplement: https://nextpathdesign.com/designbriefs
Next Path Insights Newsletter: https://nextpathdesign.com/newsletter

00:00 Welcome Back

00:25 Why Learning Goals Shift

2:21 Lit Review Wake Up Call

04:56 Five Design Questions

06:03 Coverage vs Capability

07:55 When AI Helps or Hurts

09:46 Authentic Practice Today

11:28 Metacognition with AI

14:14 Evidence Beyond Products

15:51 Wrap Up and Next Steps

17:49 Design Brief and Episode Three

18:54 Final Thoughts and Thanks

S1E1: Academic Integrity in the Age of AI

Jennifer Maddrell, PhD at Next Path Design — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 01:00:00 -0400

As an educator, what do you do when AI can now complete your prior assignments? In this episode, Jennifer Maddrell, PhD, shares how testing and redesigning her own assignment changed her approach to academic integrity in the age of AI. She frames it as a design challenge that educators have professional judgment to tackle.

This episode explores five design questions to help educators explore academic integrity as a learning experience design challenge, not a policing problem:

Is your assignment AI-vulnerable?
Are you assessing the product or the process of learning?
What does this assignment require that AI can't easily replicate?
How clear are your expectations for AI use?
What does your approach to academic integrity signal to students about classroom culture?

Jennifer also walks through how she redesigned her own literature review without banning AI or using detection software. She concludes with what surprised her along the way: "I started feeling like I was teaching again."

Links mentioned:

Free Design Brief + AI Assignment Vulnerability Audit: nextpathdesign.com/designbriefs
Next Path Insights Newsletter: nextpathdesign.com/newsletter
All Next Path Design offerings: nextpathdesign.com/join

00:00 Introduction

00:54 Testing My Own Assignment With AI

01:49 The Academic Integrity Pain Point

02:14 Policing vs. Redesigning 03:28 Why Detection Falls Short

04:55 Framing AI as a Design Problem 06:04 Your Beliefs About AI Matter

07:12 Design Question 1: Is Your Assignment AI-Vulnerable?

08:08 Design Question 2: Product or Process? 09:57 Design Question 3: What AI Can't Replicate

11:01 Design Question 4: Clear Expectations

12:59 Design Question 5: Classroom Culture and Signals

13:59 Redesigning the Literature Review

17:35 Wrap-Up, Resources, and Next Episode

About AI for Educators Design Lab: A podcast for educators, instructional designers, and learning leaders exploring how to design meaningful learning experiences when AI changes everything. New episodes are released twice monthly.

S1E0: AI for Educators Design Lab Podcast Trailer

Jennifer Maddrell, PhD at Next Path Design — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 01:00:00 -0500

In this trailer of the AI for Educators Design Lab podcast, Jennifer Maddrell, a learning experience designer with a PhD in Instructional Design and Technology, introduces the show's mission to help educators navigate the complexities of AI integration in teaching. Focusing on the balance between the exciting potential and significant concerns of AI, Jennifer aims to foster reflection rather than offering quick fixes.

The first season will tackle pressing challenges such as academic integrity, AI literacy, and student privacy, offering design considerations and reflective questions to aid educators. Episodes will be released twice a month, along with a free companion Design Brief for deeper engagement, available on our website. Each Design Brief includes a synopsis of the episode's core challenge, key design questions to examine in your own context, and a practical scaffold to help you think through the concepts covered in the podcast.

Free Design Brief Library: nextpathdesign.com/designbriefs
Next Path Insights Newsletter: nextpathdesign.com/newsletter
All Next Path Design Offerings: nextpathdesign.com/join

00:00 Welcome to the AI for Educators Design Lab Podcast

00:41 The Convergence of Messy and Magical: AI in Education

01:11 Podcast Goals and Structure

01:45 Exploring Pressing Challenges in AI Integration

02:27 Designing Learning Experiences with AI

02:45 Real-World Examples and Design Considerations

03:38 Who Is This Podcast For?

04:04 Upcoming Episodes and Community Engagement

04:58 Join Us on This Journey